Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski Read Free Book Online Page A

blocks away from Vi, also on Mississauga Island, but at the end, near the yacht club.
    “My turn,” Dean said. “I’ve never had sex.” Then he drank. Dean had been the first guy in their year to lose his virginity, when he was in eighth grade, with a high school student. It had made him a bit of a legend. He had always been cute—he had shortish, shaggy brown hair, puffy cheeks, and a quick smile. But it wasn’t his looks that got the girls—he was funny.
    “Hells no,” Vi said. “You can’t say something you’ve done and then drink.”
    Dean swallowed. “Why not?”
    “That’s the rule.”
    “Your rule,” he said.
    “House rules,” she answered.
    “So should I be drinking here or not?” RJ asked, lifting his glass.
    “That depends on whether or not you’ve had sex,” Vi said.
    He didn’t drink. Neither did Corinne, who was sitting across the room, running her pale fingers through her red hair and watching us not drink.
    Joanna, Hudson, and Vi drank.
    No one else touched his or her glass. It was a clear division between juniors and seniors, my friends and Vi’s friends.
    I didn’t know who Joanna and Hudson had done it with, but I knew Vi had lost her virginity to Frank, a hot college student who had a part in one of her mom’s plays.
    I’d been hoping to change my virgin status tonight. I kind of assumed that was the plan.
    But . . . apparently Noah’s plans were not the same as my plans.
    TWENTY MINUTES EARLIER
    “Okay, everyone, it’s time to play I Never!” Vi had called, and started passing out cups.
    “I’m driving,” Noah said, waving his away.
    “Hells no!” Vi exclaimed. “I assumed you would just crash here.”
    “No can do,” he replied.
    “Why not?” Vi asked.
    Noah shifted uncomfortably. “Because.”
    “Because why?” Vi asked.
    “Because my parents want me home,” Noah said.
    She turned to me. “Is he a mama’s boy?”
    I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t because Noah looked annoyed. But he was a mama’s boy. Noah’s mom was the kind of mom who knew every detail of her two boys’ lives from their upcoming tests to what underwear they were wearing. Fine, maybe not the underwear. She wasn’t creepy. But she knew when they needed new underwear because fresh boxers would appear in their rooms. “A little,” I said.
    “A guy who treats his mom well treats his wife well,” Marissa said.
    “He definitely treats his girlfriend well,” I said, kissing him on the cheek.
    “You can still play ,” Vi said. “I’ll just give you something else to drink.” She put the glasses down on the coffee table and headed back to the kitchen. “How about . . . soy milk?”
    Noah shrugged, still looking annoyed. He shifted away from Vi and put his arm around me. Since Vi’s and my friendship was so separate from my everyday social life, Noah and Vi had never spent much time together. I had assumed they’d get along. Why wouldn’t they? I liked them both.
    “Soy milk? That’s disgusting,” Dean said. He was fingering one of the seven candleholders that were also on the coffee table.
    “That’s all we have. April, we really need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. How about water?”
    “Whatever,” Noah said.
    “Water it is. Chardonnay for everyone not driving. Thank you, Mom, for leaving me a stocked liquor cabinet.”
    BACK TO THE GAME
    “Dude,” Dean said, looking at Noah. “You’ve never done it? That’s going to change. Your girlfriend has her own house. Speaking of . . .” He lifted his glass. “I’ve never had my own house.”
    Vi and I drank.
    I put my hand on my hip, the alcohol making me feel tough. “You didn’t want to say, I’ve never been abandoned by my parents?”
    Dean blushed and shook his head.
    Marissa squeezed my shoulder.
    Hudson laughed.
    I looked over at him and smiled. “At least someone thinks I’m funny.”
    Hudson was also a senior. Which was weird because he was ten months older than Dean but still in the same grade.